A Tale Worthy of a Musical
by Serafina Sky
Summary: A pretty, shy Gabriela transfers to East High, where her and a certain captain of the basketball team get off on the wrong foot. Luckily, serendipity and matchmakers galore work to change these bad first impressions.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: **First Impressions

Her hands felt clammy, her head was spinning, and her feet dragged as if burdened with a ball and chain. With each step towards her new homeroom class, her nervousness intensified until she found herself standing in front of a red door and peering into a room full of students. "Oh God, oh God," Gabriela thought with a panic, "a crowd of people: I can't do this, they'll all be staring at me, what if they don't like my shoes, what if people from Albuquerque don't wear their hair like this, what if –"

Gabriela distantly heard the principal say, "Welcome to East High, Miss Montez," and saw the door open. Immobilized, Gabriela felt a firm shove by the principal and stumbled into the room, feeling as if the twenty-six pairs of eyes saw straight through her and had already filed her under the "Dorky Nerd" category. The teacher's introductions of her finished, she scared up a weak smile; she really, truly thought she was going to be sick.

In her reverie, she heard her new teacher, Ms. Darbus, clear her throat in annoyance, "Miss Montez, I know you are new but that is no excuse to space out in my classroom. Please take a seat behind Mr. Bolton, who is sitting behind the boy with the ridiculous hair." Gabriela giggled as she immediately identified a boy with a mass of brown curls that seemed to defy gravity, and made her way to the seat behind the boy behind him. Taking her seat, she almost gasped as "Mr. Bolton" turned around with a smile and an outstretched hand. He had to have been one of the best-looking boys she had seen at East High so far, and that easy smile of his was directed at her. "Cool it Montez, just be cool, just be –"

"Cool." Gabriela heard herself saying.

Troy gave her a strange look, "You think the ten page essay on 'The Importance of Jazz Squares,' we've just been assigned is cool?" Troy asked, confused. While he thought this new girl, Gabriela Montez, was drop dead gorgeous, if she was anything like Sharpay Evans, he didn't think he could handle it. Troy took a moment to wonder if he had done anything in a previous life that would constitute such a cruel, cruel joke from God: Sharpay Evans hidden in a beautiful girl's body.

"No, no" Gabriela said quickly, and Troy breathed out a sigh of relief. "I know nothing about musicals. I think I would pass out from just the idea of being on stage. I'm sorry, I'll confess -- I wasn't paying attention." Unbeknownst to Gabriela, her big, brown, apologetic eyes had pierced its way into Troy's already love-struck young heart – Troy swore he felt his heart skip a beat. In actuality, his cell phone was vibrating.

Troy pulled out his cell phone discreetly and opened a newly received text message that read: "Hey you studmuffin, did you get the note I left in your locker?" Troy cringed at the recollection of Sharpay's love note, which described their future as an NBA star and famous actress together. According to Sharpay, they were going to have three children, one adopted from Zimbabwe just like Brangelina. Disturbed, he still gave a polite wave to Sharpay, who winked at him and blew a kiss before turning back around. His brain noted that Ms. Darbus was no longer at the front of the class.

Troy turned his head around slowly, "Please don't be behind me," he silently begged, but just as he dreaded, Darbus was right behind him, arms crossed. "Mister Bolton, must I reiterate how much I hate cell phones in my classroom? Detention. Miss Montez, just so we're clear, I hate flirting in my classroom as well: detention." Gabriela shrunk in embarrassment as the rest of the class ooh'd at the singling out; she felt her cheeks burn. The ridiculous hair boy who had since been napping on his desk, suddenly jerked awake at the mention of detention. His hand shot up into the air.

"Ms. Darbus! As you may know, East High's Wildcats championship basketball game is in a mere few weeks, and as our captian, Troy can't afford to miss a single practice," ridiculous hair boy interjected, named Chad as she would later learn.

While Ms. Darbus normally would disregard such heinously impertinent bargaining, she remembered her recent talk with Coach Bolton and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Mr. Bolton, you will write me a page essay on why cell phones are inappropriate, due on my desk tomorrow. Miss Montez, I will see you after school." Suddenly, the school bell rang, signaling next period.

Gabriela was fuming. Any warm feelings towards Troy Bolton quickly disappeared as Gabriela put away her books, outraged at the special treatment. If there was one thing at her old school she hated, it was how their superstar basketball team was treated like royalty: getting extra time on assignments, different days to write their tests, and a blind eye from teachers when the jocks got a little rough with the nerds, her friends. It looked like East High wouldn't be too different, and that she had misjudged Troy Bolton; he was probably the snobbiest jerk jock of them all.

Troy literally threw his stuff into his backpack as he tried to catch up to the pretty Montez girl. "Hey wait up, Gabriela –" he said, reaching for her shoulder, and almost fell back when she jerked her head around, looking furious.

"Look," she said, jabbing her finger at Troy's chest, "I take my education very seriously. I don't think it's funny how you purposely got me into trouble like that, especially when you knew you couldn't get in trouble, you basketball chump."

"Hey – first of all, where the hell do you get off calling people names, and secondly, I think you've made a mistake, I'm not really –"

"You know what, I don't want to hear it: I'm met enough guys like you to know them when I see them. Just leave me alone from now on, ok? Especially considering you already have a girlfriend," Gabriela finished, nodding in the direction of Sharpay who was approaching Troy with open arms and puckered lips. Troy was too stunned at what Gabriela was suggesting, and too horrified by the sight of Sharpay to think clearly. Though he wanted to correct Gabriela's impression of him, it would have to wait, because right now, he had to get away from Sharpay Evans' lips as quickly as possible.

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Gabriela despaired; though she had switched schools more times than she could count on her fingers, it was still hard getting used to new schools. The science wing of East High seemed to be designed like a maze; Room 224 would not necessarily be found next to Room 222, "That would make too much sense," Gabriela thought with frustration. Great, she was new, she was behind in schoolwork, and considering the period bell rang fifteen minutes ago, she was late for her first Chemistry class.

Looking around, her eye caught a door with the number 224 and for a moment, she feared it was a mirage. "Please please please let this be the room," she begged up to the ceiling as she rushed to the door, not seeing a tall, athletic student lunging for the door himself.

Within the room, Mr. Wong, East High's resident Chemistry teacher almost dropped his beaker at the sight Troy Bolton and a petite brunette, who literally crashed into the room. The girl fell on top of Troy with a loud thud. The whole class stunned, there was a moment of dead silence and stillness as everyone stared at the new girl and Troy, tangled in a mess of legs, arms, and backpacks.

Gabriela should have leapt up right away. She could have even rolled off of him if she wanted something less dramatic. But right now, all Gabriela could focus on was how deeply blue Troy's eyes were, and how close her lips were to his. Troy, being a teenage boy full of raging hormones, lay mesmerized by Gabriela's pink, pouting lips that were a mere inch away from his own. Suddenly, the pink mouth started moving, and Troy felt as if his heart would burst out of his chest, it was beating so hard. "She's going to kiss me, she's going to –"

"Get off of you, I'm so sorry," Troy heard her say, and he couldn't help feel disappointed as he saw her get up and off of him. Troy reached for both their bags and handed the pink satchel to Gabriela. Both forced out an embarrassed, "I'm sorry" and rushed to the only empty seats at the back of class, together. Their almost-kiss behind her, Gabriela remembered who Troy was, and what kind of person he was. Though she was stuck sitting beside him, she shifted her seat as far as her chair would allow, averting her eyes to the front and blatantly ignoring Troy.

Despite Gabriela's very clear body language, Mr. Wong's inner matchmaker couldn't resist noting the chemistry he had just witnessed. Judging from Troy's frequent sidelong glances at Gabriela, it was obvious that the boy liked her. However, from the way Gabriela was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge Troy, it was obvious she did not share Troy's sentiments. However, Mr. Wong knew his students, and he especially knew what a great kid Troy was. Mr. Wong decided to give the smitten youth a break and give him the opportunity to win over Miss Montez. Clearing his throat, Mr. Wong quieted the giggling class, "Alright everyone, if we can all settle down, I'm going to read out your lab partners for the term. I don't want moaning, groaning, and I especially won't entertain any requests for a partner change. Unless your partner turns out to be Darth Vader, don't even bother talking to me. Our first pair of lab partners will be… Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez."

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In an empty hallway in East High, Gabriela Montez was walking to her locker. Detention with Ms. Darbus consisted of painting Sharpay's dressing room in a horrifying shock of bright pinks and orange, and framing glamour shots of Sharpay to be placed all around the room. In other words, it was the most miserable detention she had ever had.

Taking a seat on the floor against her locker, Gabriela couldn't help but start sniffling. Her first day of school consisted of detention, being late for class and eating lunch by herself in an empty classroom. She was swamped with so much catch-up homework, she wouldn't have any free time for a week – not that it mattered. She had made zero friends, alienated the very cute captain of the basketball team, and somehow made an enemy of his girlfriend Sharpay, who had given her dirty looks all day. From there, she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She hated being the new girl.

"Excuse me," Gabriela heard someone say, and quickly glanced up to see Troy Bolton reaching for the locker next to hers. Troy stilled when he saw her tear-stained face; he realized she had been crying.

"Gabriela, are you alright? Did someone do something to you?" Troy asked, raising his voice at the last part. He took a seat next to her.

"Oh, I'm fine," Gabriela said quickly, drying her eyes with a swipe of her shirt sleeve. "It's dumb, I'm just being dumb," she muttered, looking away.

Troy's face softened into a look of honest concern. "Look, I know you think I'm some sort of jerk or something, but I think we just got off on the wrong foot. Our basketball team hasn't made the championships in decades, and everyone, including my teammate Chad has been super-sensitive about winning. Our coach asked the teachers to lay off giving detention during practice, but honestly, I would have preferred the detention over writing an essay – especially if I could have done detention with you," Troy finished, looking with nervous expectation at Gabriela. He thought he caught a slight smile hidden behind her dark curls.

"Well, it's not like we won't be spending a lot of time together – you are my lab partner. And considering someone put five grams of acid into our beaker instead of 0.5 grams, we'll be spending at least the next lunch period re-doing the experiment," Gabriela grinned, looking pointedly at Troy. She was completely unaware of the effect of her glistening brown eyes, long lashes, and bright smile on the boy beside her. Unbeknownst to her, he would have gladly sabotaged all their experiments if it meant more time with her.

"But Troy," Gabriela started apprehensively, "Aren't you going out with that girl in our Drama class, Sharpay?"

Troy look visibly disturbed, "Sharpay! Honestly, I'd rather be dating the Wicked Witch of the West than Sharpay Evans; she's conceited, she's superficial, and she's just… not real, you know? No, I could never date her; actually, I'm more into smart, naturally pretty, brown-eyed brunettes," Troy said jokingly, checking her out. He was glad to hear her laugh in response.

"Well Troy Bolton," Gabriela started, reaching for her bag, "thank you for cheering me up, and I'm sorry I judged you so quickly. Friends?" She asked, offering her hand out to Troy's.

Troy smiled, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake in agreement. "Friends."

"Troy, you should have started heading home earlier, it's already dark," a voice boomed, and the pair turned to see Coach Bolton making his way down the hall. "I'm going to be staying here late for a staff meeting, so warn your mother, alright?" Coach Bolton glanced down at the two, whose hands were still clasped together from their handshake. "And may I ask who this nice young lady is, and how you convinced her to hold hands with a sweaty, smelly basketball player like you?" Troy's dad asked, catching Gabriela's eye with a playful wink. The two blushed a matching bright pink, instantly releasing the other's hand.

"Oh well, me and Gabriela just met today, and, um, we got off on the wrong foot and so – um, yeah, we're friends now," Troy stuttered, scratching the back of his head, trying to ignore how sweaty his hand was from holding Gabriela's. "Anyways, Gabriela was just heading home herself, so I'm on my way now dad."

"Gabriela, you're new to this neighbourhood, aren't you?" asked Coach Bolton. Gabriela nodded, still a little intimidated by Troy's dad, the school's basketball coach. "Well, we can't have a nice girl walking home in a new place by herself after dark. Troy, walk your new friend home tonight, will you?" Troy nodded, trying not to look too enthusiastic. Gabriela just smiled nervously – she was going to get walked home by the captain of the basketball team, and it was her first day here. Maybe this school wouldn't be so bad after all, she thought.

It was about a block away from school when Troy made a leap of courage and took Gabriela's hand in his. Neither said a word, but Troy was relieved when he realized Gabriela wasn't going to pull away. He had spent that last block arguing with himself, trying to decide whether holding her hand was worth the risk of her running away or a slap in the face. Evidently, his bravery paid off.

All too soon, the two reached Gabriela's new house, where Gabriela gave him a soft smile. "Thank you for walking me home," she whispered, looking up at him through her fringed, dark lashes. At a single bat of her eyes, Troy felt like he would walk across Albuquerque if she asked him to. He just nodded, knowing he was incapable of stringing together a coherent sentence. Then suddenly, as if in a dream, Gabriela slowly leaned in, went on tiptoe, closed her eyes, and gave him a soft, sweet, fleeting kiss on his cheek. "Good night, Troy," she said quietly, and went inside her house, shutting the door gently behind her.

For a few seconds, Troy stood frozen at Gabriela's porch in disbelief, hand at his cheek where Gabriela's lips had touched him. The spot burned with a delicious, warm feeling that seemed to flow through his bloodstreams and straight to his heart. His heart swelled till he felt it would burst from his chest. Troy reached into his pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and dialed Chad Danforth's phone number.

"Hello?" a voice sounded. Troy smiled at the sound of his best friend's voice.

"Man, I think I'm in love."

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**Author's Note: **Please read and review, I'd love to hear any questions, comments, and words of support from you guys. 3 silkreel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Second-hand Impressions**

**by silkreel**

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As the warning bell for the start of class sounded and groups of students hurried to their homeroom class, the sight before Chad Danforth demanded his undivided attention. Troy Bolton, best friend and captain, was approaching him wearing a goofy grin, with a kick in his step, and though Chad had to double check to make sure: Troy was humming to himself. He shook his head, his greatest fears confirmed; Troy was in love, and he had fallen hard. Only problem was, he had fallen for the wrong girl.

From the sounds of it, Gabriella was very shy and very studious – a match between Troy and Gabriella would create chaos in East High's well-established, disciplined, social fabric. Like a set of unsaid commandments, there were rules that everyone knowingly followed: band nerds didn't date skaters, reclusive artists didn't date drama freaks, and basketball jocks _certainly_ didn't date math geeks. This new girl however, didn't seem to know the rules, and as Troy's friend, Chad knew his responsibility was to make sure that she did. As for Troy, Chad was faced with the unpleasant duty of reminding his friend of this reality.

"Hey man," Troy exclaimed brightly, giving Chad an enthusiastic slap on the back, "isn't today just a beautiful day? Isn't life just amazing in general? Did you know we're having chocolate pudding today, my favourite dessert? You know, Gabriella's eyes are the exact same colour as chocolate pudding. I think it's fate – the cosmos are trying to tell me that this girl is it man, it's meant to be!"

Chad felt a pang of horrible guilt stab at his insides, though focused on Troy's social well-being, he sternly told his conscience to go take a hike. As the two of them walked to Drama class together, Chad took a deep breath, and said "Troy, I know you're excited about this new girl, but what do you really know about her? Sure, she seems nice, but as your friend, I have to watch your back and paint you a picture of the ugly truth: she's the queen nerd of all nerds, she has no friends – I mean come on, the girl sits by herself at lunch – what more of a loser can you get, if not even the lowest of the low will sit with you? She's taking advantage of you, man."

As Chad finished, he glanced over to see Troy's reaction and almost tripped over his feet. From the look on Troy's face, he wanted to punch his lights out. Chad was aware that their long-standing friendship was the only reason Troy was holding it back.

Troy's eyes had narrowed to intimidating slits as he gazed at his friend, his voice low and near inaudible as he said, "Chad, we've been friends since kindergarten, but you're treading on thin ice. I can't believe all the ugly lies you've just said about Gabriella - you know how much I like her, you know –"

"Wait, wait, wait -- there's something I haven't told you yet," Chad interjected, "I didn't want to tell you, but I overheard Gabriella on her cell phone this morning, talking about you. About how she had played some basketball chump at her new school, that she had you wrapped around her finger, that –" and here, Chad almost hesitated "- that she faked those tears in the hallway, and kissed you goodnight to 'convince the idiot that I actually liked him.'" Chad dropped his eyes – it was all a lie, but Troy was too far-gone to be persuaded with rational reasoning. He couldn't even look the guy in the eyes.

Troy was deathly silent the rest of the way, though a mental struggle was going on in his head. On the one hand, Gabriella seemed like such a sweet, honest girl – she was literally the girl of his dreams. On the other hand, he and Chad had been friends since they were four. In a defeated voice, Troy said, "Chad, you're my oldest, closest friend, and you of all people know how much I like Gabriella. So if you say that's what you heard her say, then – I-I believe you." Troy felt his heart breaking, screaming that it had to be a mistake – he slumped at his desk in homeroom, staring vacantly at the graffiti covered top.

Gabriella huffed as she ran into the classroom, sounding a triumphant 'Yes,' as the school bell followed. "Chalk one up for Montez, I'm on time," Gabriella grinned to herself – she had overcome great obstacles; including steamrolling past Sharpay Evans who had demanded they "discuss Troy," quite loudly from the middle of the hallway.

Making her way to her seat, she smiled brightly at the sight of Troy and almost said, "Hey." She faltered though, because if looks could shoot poison, the glare she was getting from Troy was the equivalent of a bite from a black mamba snake. As quickly as turned to glare at her, he turned away, refusing to even look in her direction.

"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked, confused. It was then, however, Ms. Darbus started class.

"Alright everybody, today, we will discuss the fundamentals of theatre singing – musicals. I, as your Drama teacher, firmly believe that everyone is capable of a singing voice. Some of you, like Sharpay," and here, Ms. Darbus gave a wink to her favourite student, "blow us away with their talent. Others, I anticipate will have more difficulty. For the record Mr. Danforth, your snoring is NOT MUSIC TO MY EARS!" Ms. Darbus yelled the latter part, rapping her ruler hard on Chad's desk.

Chad's head of curls bounced up from his desk, "Huh? Music? Do we have to listen to those freaky-creepy Evans twins sing again? Like last time, I have to object to being subjected to such inappropriate 'singing.'"

Ms. Darbus rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Mr. Danforth, I will not tell you again – contrary to your paranoid, delusional beliefs, the music I select for this class does not contain subliminal messages."

"And I can't explain this enough to you Ms. Darbus – it's not the music, it's how those two sing it. How else can you explain why my buddy Zeke has the biggest crush of all time on Sharpay? I can only conclude, Ms. D, that there is the involvement of the black arts, and that Sharpay – is a witch."

"Hey!" Sharpay and Zeke yelled out simultaneously, outraged. Zeke proceeded to give a hard smack on the back of Chad's head, while stealing hopeful glances at Sharpay to see her reaction. Sharpay, however, was much too busy, shrilly demanding that Chad be punished for such an insult to her talents.

Ms. Darbus snapped her ruler on the desk, "Class, I highly suggest you remove the last five minutes from your memory. In doing this, I shall hope your minds are not tainted by Mr. Danforth's display of horrible theatre ignorance. Instead, pay attention carefully as I describe your next project. In pairs, you will have the next two weeks to prepare a performance, to be presented on the stage to the class. I will post your assigned partner and duet song on the door of the room after class. It will be up to the two of you to take the initiative and practice with each other, and if you wish, with Miss Nielson our pianist. Now, thespians believe the first musical was performed as early as…" Ms. Darbus proceeded with her lecture. As Gabriella half-listened, she was pretty sure this was the Drama teacher's most boring lecture so far.

Remembering Troy's death-glare at the beginning of class, Gabriella tried tapping Troy on the shoulder. Troy must have found the lecture on The Origins of Musicals extremely interesting though, because he didn't bother to turn around.

At the end of class, it was Gabriella's turn to rush after Troy. Evidently, not only was he very attentive today, but also very busy, because he swiftly left the room before she managed to call out his name. His friend Chad, however, approached her.

"Hey Gabriella, do you think I could talk to you for a minute?" he asked gravely.

"Um, sure?"

"Troy's one of my best friends, and I normally wouldn't do this, but you seem like a really nice girl and I don't want you to get hurt. I love the guy to death, but he's the biggest heartbreaker in the school – Sharpay was one of his more recent 'conquests'. As you can see, he's still got her chasing him even after the ugly, public break up they had. You're new, so someone needs to tell you: Bolton will act like the perfect gentleman, win you over and then break your heart. To him, it's all one big game. Stay away from him."

On the other side of the school, Troy walked dejectedly to his locker. Meanwhile, Chad was making his way to his next class, feeling like a world-class jerk and trying to convince himself he had done the right thing. Gabriella stood frozen in the middle of the classroom shell-shocked, trying to make sense of the situation. With a sigh, she resigned herself to believing Chad – after all, everything was really going too smoothly. On her way out, she noticed Ms. Darbus posting the assignment list on the door and stopped to take a look.

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"Troy, where is your lab partner?" Mr. Wong asked, warily watching Troy's purple test tube – it was supposed to be clear. Though he hadn't had Gabriella in his class for very long, he had already determined her very important role: to keep Troy from blowing up the school, or at the very least, catching on fire.

Troy faked a nonchalant shrug, though he couldn't help but worry about his lab partner too. He knew he was supposed to hate her, but for some reason, something in his heart was pulling him back. Also, she was the only reason he hadn't caught on fire in this Chemistry class yet.

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Meanwhile, in the east wing of the school, in the girl's washroom, in the third stall from the door, Gabriella was hiding. He was in her homeroom Drama class, he was her Chemistry lab partner, and as of fifteen minutes ago, a piece of paper on a door said that he was her Musical Performance partner too. With all this one-on-one time with Troy Bolton, how was a girl supposed to ignore her stupid heart, which was stupidly telling her in a singsong voice, she was falling in love? Hence, Troy Bolton was the reason she was in the girl's washroom right now and not in her class. She couldn't fall in love with him, she couldn't – hell, who was she kidding. She cradled her head in her hand, shaking her head in denial.

She was in love.

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**Author's notes:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed, added me as a favourite, or silently added me to their story alerts lists, though shame on the second group, lol, give me some feedback why don't ya. Your feedback really motivates me, and in some instances, inspired me to continue the things you like, like the Sharpay bashing (which is really too easy, and too much fun to stop to be honest.) Stay patient with me for future chapters, we're all going back to school and so we'll all be a bit busier. Best of luck in the start of your new school years, guys. silkreel

P.S. I sort of borrowed a line from the songs "Breathe" and "Pulling Me Back." Though I think I can get away with it, because they're common sayings.


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